Headlight dimmer



E. MCPEEK.

Y HEADLIGHT DIMMER.

APPLICATION man MAR. 17. 192|.

Patented Apr. 18, `1922.

WITNESSES 'staresearner,

FFW@

EDISN HUPEEK, OF SABDIS, OHIO.

.; lLEGEEB! DI "a,

Leraars.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patentgd Apr. 18, 1922.

Application tiled. March 17, 1921. Serial N'o. 452,917.

To all 'whom zt may concern:

Be' it known that I, vFinition MCPEEK, a citizen of the UnitedStates anda resident of Sardis, in the county of Monroe and State of hio, haveinvented a new and Improved Headlight Dimmer, of which thefollowingwhich serve to confuse and to impair the.

vision of the driver of an approaching car.

A further object is to provide a dimmer, whichwill accentuate andincrease the rays of light which are thrown on the road directly infront of a car so that a full road illumination is had withoutunnecessary glare. i y

A. still further object is to provide a dimmer, which may be uicklyapplied to various forms of headlights now on the market,

which will be Simp e and practical -in construction, strong and durablein use and coinparativel inexpensive to manufacture.

With t ese and other objects in view, the invention consists in certalnnovel features of construction and combinations and arrangements ofparts as will be more fully hereinafter described and pointed out in theclaim.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is/a view. partly in sideelevation, but mainly in vertical section through a headlightillustrating my improved dimmer in applied osition; f

Figure 2 1s a view in front elevation of the dimmer, the dimmerillustrated being intended for use on the right headlight of a car.Figure 3 is .an enlarged franentary view in vertical section therethrougFigure 4 is a view in vertical section illustrating a modified form ofdimmer; and

`Figure 5 is a reduced view in front elevation similar to Figure'2 andshowing a dimmer for use upon the left headlight of a car.

Referring in detail to the drawings, 1 represents a headlight casing,which supports the usual parabolic reiiector 2. The rellector 2 includesat its outer edge, an annular flange 3, overlying and resting against anannular internal shoulder 4. in the casing 1. A lens 5 is ordinarilyclamped against the flange 3 headlight by a beaded frame such as 6,hingedly or otherwise connected to the headlight casing.

My improved dlmmer includes an outwardly presented annular lange 7adapted to be clamped between the edge of the lens 5 and the flange 3. Aring of felt or other packlng material 8 is inter osed between theflange 7 and the edge o the'lens 5 to cushion the slight movement of thelens incidental to the vibration of the car.

A tapered ring 9 is integral with the flange 7 and serves to rlgidlysupport the ends of a vplurality of transversely disposed parallel metalstrips 10. The strips 10 decliney appreclably from their rear to theirforward edges and form in effect a screen or shutter to keep the glareof a headlight from the eyes of the drlvers of approachin cars.

-The under faces of t e strips 10 which are exposed to the rays ofthelight from the are treated ywith a coating of highly dpolished lightreflecting material 11, adapte to reect therays of light down on to theroadin front of the car; The outer upper surfaces of the strips 10 aretreated with a coating of dull light absorbing material 12 to furtherdim the glare from the lights. The strips may either be painted toproduce the desired light reflecting and absorbing surfaces, or .somereiecting or absorbing medium such as lass ofdiderent colors may beapplied to t e strips, as indicated 1n Figure 3. A pair of strengtheningribs 13 attached to all of the strips prevent vibration of the strips.

The ends of the intermediate strips 10 may be painted either green orred, as indicated at 14 and 15 to represent the port and starboardrunning lights of ship.

InFlgure 4, I have illustrated aI slightly modified form of dimmer inwhich the forward edge of the ring 16 extends beyond the Aforward edgesof thestrips 17 so that a lens 18 may be conveniently sup orted againstthe strips 17 with its outer ace lush with the flange 19. In this.instance, brackets or clips 20 are provided around the edges of the rie?16 for retaining the lens in place.

arious slight changes and alterations might be made in the general formand arrangement of the parts described without departing from thelnvention and hence I do not wish to limit m self to the precise detailsset forth, but s allconsider myself at liberty to make such slightchanges and a1- including a tato be clampedhetween a headlightvcasing cand frame, said strips terminating short of l0 the `forward edge of ,thering, and means re-y taining a lens in the ring against the strips andHush With Said ange, said means comprising angular brackets arrangedaround the ring and engageable with a lens.

' EDISON MGPEEK.

